1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to card punchers which punch cards as the yardstick of the sum of money paid by the cards used as coupon tickets, or to get tickets on omnibuses and/or electric trains and method of control the punchers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of cards as coupon tickets or to get tickets on omnibuses and/or electric trains have been proposed. Cards of such type store a predetermined number of records or a predetermined sum of money in the respective magnetic record sections formed on their backs. If the card is inserted into a card insertion slot in a card handling device, data on the sum of money stored in the magnetic record section is read, an amount of money corresponding to the use of the card is subtracted from the sum of the money and the card is then returned to the user. In order to visually display the remaining sum of money to the user, the card is punched at its predetermined position. Since the position of the punched hole indicates the remaining sum of money, it must be accurate.
To this end, an arrangement is proposed conventionally which when the card arrives at a position where it should be punched, it is stopped by a brake or a clutch and a punching mechanism is actuated to punch the card, or an arrangement is proposed in which a motor as a source of power to convey the card is slowed down to position a punched hole.
Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Sho No. 58-208874 discloses a further arrangement in which if a card comes close to a target position where it is punched, the card conveyer motor is switched from its forward rotation to its backward rotation to thereby slow down the card. If the interval between pulses generated corresponding to the rotational speed of the motor has more than a predetermined value, the motor is stopped to punch the card during its subsequent coasting operation.
In the arrangement in which a punched hole is positioned using the brake or clutch, the punching mechanism is complicated and large-sized, so that the space where the arrangement is to be accommodated is forced to be too small, and hence the arrangement cannot be used. In the arrangement in which the motor is slowed down, a time required for processing one card is increased, and an increase in the temperature of the motor would reduce the service life of the motor itself and the circuit parts in the vicinity of the motor.
In the arrangement of the Application Sho No. 58-208874, a mechanism such as a clutch or a brake is not required, but the punching timing is required to be selected in accordance with the state of the conveyer passageway in the punching mechanism to thereby increase the manufacturing cost undesirably since the punching operation is performed during the coasting of the card.